Love Bites (Rebroadcast) - 24 March 2025
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You're listening to A Way With Words, the show about language and how we use it. I'm Grant Barrett. And I'm Martha Barnett. On our Facebook group, a lot of us have been having fun with a game that was started by member Kelly D. Guess. And it's called A Way With Words.

And she asked, what does your garden grow? And then she gave some examples of different professions, like a veterinarian might plant dogwood and catnip. So what does your garden grow? That was the question, and it led Grant to a regular pun fest. Oh, boy. So the makeup artist plants tulips? Yep. Let's see. What does the gardener plant? Ooh. Everything. Oh.

Oh, that's a tough one. I don't know, but I think the gardener's very handsome. He's quite a rake. Yeah. What is the plumber plant? Well, that one's easy. We know that one. Leeks. Right. Leeks. Leeks. The jeweler. The jeweler plants. Oh. Think about how much a diamond weighs.

Oh, carrots, of course. Right, right. That makes a lot of sense. What about the ophthalmologist? I don't know. What does the ophthalmologist plant in her garden? Irises. Of course. And one more medical professional. This one's my favorite. What did the nurse plant? Navel oranges.

I don't know. I guess it could be blood oranges. Blood oranges, yeah. How about the nurse planted ivy? Oh, yes, of course she did.

Wonderful. We know you're creative and you've got a lot of these already coming to mind. What did a person of a certain profession plant in their garden? Let us know the pun you come up with, 877-929-9673, or tell us on Twitter at W-A-Y-W-O-R-D. Hello, you have a way with words. Hello, so glad to be here. My name is Pearlene Jeffrey. I'm from Fort Worth, Texas. I have a question for you and I know that you guys are the ones that can answer it.

Ever since I was a young girl, my family has always said to me, you're trying to have your cake and eat it too. Or, oh, you want to have your cake and eat it too. And I grew up in a time when children couldn't talk back. But in the back of my head, I was like, what is the point of having cake if you can't eat it too? Right.

And I'm like, yeah, yeah, I do. I want to have my cake and eat it too. But I kind of get it that because every time they said it to me, it was when I was just doing a lot of stuff because I was always really, really active. But at the same time, now that I'm older, it's like come back to me and I'm like, am I trying to have my cake and eat it too? And I'm still asking to myself, yeah. And then I said, who thought of that?

That is such a stupid saying. It's got to be wrong. So I'm calling you guys for you to set the record straight on this. I just want to know.

I'm with you. What's the point of cake? I mean, you might as well have the fake cakes in the pastry window, you know, the ones that are styrofoam decorated with cement or whatever. These are pictures of cakes that I like. No, I want to eat a cake. Instead of wallet-sized photos of your children and wallet-sized photos of all the cakes you've loved. Yeah.

I love this image, Perlene, of you hearing what the adult said and knowing that you can't talk back, but thinking, boy, that's a really stupid saying. I bet a lot came out on the day you turned 18. You're like, okay, now I can say it all. Right? No, it didn't work that way in my house.

So, Grant, this expression, you can't have your cake and eat it, too. I mean, it is a confusing expression if you break it down. I mean, I think we know what it means, you know, that you can't have it both ways. I mean, I think part of the problem is that verb to have because have can mean to be in possession, but it can also mean, you know, I'm having cake. I'm sitting here at the table with Perlene and Perlene and I are having cake.

You're eating it. Yeah, it means two different things, right? Yeah, and probably one thing that we can say about this expression is that it is hundreds and hundreds of years old. I mean, it makes sense that it was before you could just take a picture of your cake and put it on Facebook or whatever, and then you still sort of have it, right? Okay, so it was probably like when cake was like a really, really rare thing.

Well, yeah, that's a good point because some of the really early uses of this expression may have just referred to small pieces of bread or, you know, like oat cakes or something like that. But, yeah, there's also that special element of the kind of cake that probably you and I enjoy. What's your favorite? I don't have a favorite cake, but there's only one cake that I actually dislike, and that's red velvet. Okay.

What? Ariana, yeah. To me, Red Velvet is a useless cake. I'm sorry. What's the point?

Just get some really good chocolate cake and just spare the red dye. What is the point of red velvet cake? How about a German chocolate cake with coconut icing? That's my favorite right there. Okay. My favorite is carrot cake with cream cheese icing. How about that one, Perlene? Can we compromise on that one? That's a really good one.

Okay. Yeah, okay. We can compromise on that. Well, Pearlie, we are... Carrot cake with cream cheese icing is delicious. We love your energy. We appreciate your clever thinking on this issue. And we agree it's confusing. But, you know, like all idioms, you got to take it as a whole. Don't try to break it down to its parts. It's...

It's like just treat it as one big blob of meaning, and that big blob of meaning is you can't have it both ways. Just go forward and enjoy your cake in peace. A big piece. A big piece. I shall. Maybe another one later.

Yeah, maybe now people will do away with that saying. Get something totally different. Perlene's Law. We're going to have them name it. It's going to be in all the Perlene's Law. I don't care how hundreds of years old it's time to do away with that. Because, yeah, don't serve me cake if I can't eat it. Thank you so much. Oh, that's wonderful. You take care now. I really enjoyed being on with you guys. Thank you all. Bye-bye. Thanks, Perlene.

Call us up, 877-929-9673. Or tell us about your food idioms and why you like them or don't on Twitter, at W-A-Y-W-O-R-D. ♪♪♪

We heard from Ron Schomburg in Wynwood, Pennsylvania, who wrote to us to say, a college roommate taught me one of his family words that I've adopted, the as you. It's the second or third stair on a staircase, as you.

As you go? Yes. Isn't that what it is? Yes. It's the stair where you put things to remember to take them as you go upstairs. Oh, right. Because you lean over just a little bit and then they're hand high. Yeah. Yeah.

I'm going to borrow that one, Ron. Thank you so much. I love that because you totally do that because that's one of the rules of keeping the house tidy, which is try never to leave a room empty-handed. There's always a bit of laundry or a bit of dishes or some bit of trash or just something that belongs in another room that you can take with you when you go. Yes, yes. Grant, I have always tried to do that, but I feel like I just move the messes around. Yeah.

I am just imagining you, like, pulling one of those parks and rec carts behind you with the trash cans, the two barrels on wheels, you know, and you've got your rake and your canvas bag, and you're picking up the trash from room to room in the house. Maybe I should do it that way. 877-929-9673. Hi there, you have a way with words. Well, yes, I do. Ha ha ha!

He's been waiting a long time to say that. Obviously. Hi, who are you? Where are you calling from? My name is Matthew. I'm calling from Vermont. What's on your mind today? What are you thinking about? Well, you know, when I was growing up in Vermont, central Vermont, we had a term we would say, book it.

which meant to move at a rapid pace from point A to point B, sometimes across town or down the street or whatever. So we would say, we got to book it over to Rick's house or book it over to the park or something of that nature.

Well, I always found that interesting because it's not like a book or, you know, book somebody into jail. It just meant to move at a rapid pace from one place to another. About when would that be? About what decade? Yeah, this was back in the 70s, mid 70s. Yeah, that actually sounds just about right for book it.

You know, I've been trying to put together the pieces for this particular bit of slang for a while. And I have some notes that I've put together because I've got a theory that I haven't proven yet. But let me just lay this out for you and everyone else and see what you think.

As far back as the 1860s, there were a couple of different terms that were used to imitate the sound of running feet or hooves, especially if they were going fast. And they're bookety-book or bookety-bookety. Yeah. So you might say someone is running bookety-book or a cowboy is riding bookety-book or a quarterback went bookety-book toward the field goal or a deer was fleeing bookety-book from the dog, something like that.

And in particularly, particularly in the South and states like Tennessee and Virginia. And in the last century or so, it was particularly common among speakers of African-American English, including in the writing of Zora Neale Hurston in the 1930s. So it has a long history, this bookity book. And it's imitative, obviously. It's like the sound of feet running, right? Or the sound of hooves against the ground. So hang on to that for a second. Okay.

In the early 1920s, there was a boogie among black Americans, meaning to party or have a good time with drinking and dancing. And there was also a noun boogie, which was the same, a party where you did all those things. And by the 1940s, that word boogie could also just mean dance fast to strong rhythmic music. And the 40s are also when boogie came to mean to leave or move in a hurry. And here's one of your connections, right? So we got a boogie. We got to get out of here.

And then here's the third connection. In the 1950s, the Korean War brings home the term bug out, which means to leave in a hurry, flee, or just leave in an ordinary way. And by the 1960s, it was sometimes shortened to bug. The party was a dud, so we just bugged. So in the late 1960s and 1970s, my hypothesis is, and I haven't proven it yet,

is when they all come together and we find the first written records of "bookit" meaning to move quickly or leave quickly.

And it continued for a while. The slang popularity of booking it or book it has waned. You'll still find it here and there. But this heyday was pretty much the 70s and the 80s. So my theory is that the bookity bookity and boogie, meaning to leave or move in a hurry, and to bug out all kind of come together and book it. Because you will often find that slang terms will change.

I think I've used this term already, cross-pollinate. They'll lend a little bit of their meaning and sense to each other, particularly if they share common sounds. Wow, that is fascinating. So you're actually boogieing across town instead of booking across town. Yeah, you could see how boogie and book it. There's a lot of similarity there. And G and K do sometimes swap in the mouth. Interesting. That's fascinating. Thanks for the question. Really appreciate it. Take care. All right, I've got to book it now.

Thanks, Matthew. Call us with your language question, 877-929-9673. Spring starts with savings at the Home Depot. So if you're working on getting your yard spring ready, you'll need the right tools to get it done.

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You're listening to A Way With Words, the show about language and how we use it. I'm Grant Barrett. And I'm Martha Barnett. And joining us now is our quiz guide, John Chinesky. Hey, John. Hey, Martha. Hi, John. Hi, Grant. How are you guys?

Super duper. Good, I'm doing very well as well. You know, as a puzzle person, I'm one of those people who used to, I like to look at maps all the time and charts and things. I love science for all its words and for its elements. To me, the periodic table is like a map. I could examine it all day. The names of the elements or symbols are all fascinating to me. So I've got for you guys a little quiz about the periodic chart and the elements thereon. Okay? Okay.

Sure. Oh, boy. All right. Some elements were named because they did not get along, so to speak. They didn't form compounds with other elements. For example, argon comes from the word argos, meaning idle. Which element comes from the Greek word for stranger? Is there a xenium or something? Close. Yeah. It's a mobile gas. Xenon. It is xenon, yes, because it estranged itself from other elements. Very good. Interesting.

Only two elements are named for continents. You've got a two in seven chance. What are they? Americanium or something like that? Americium. Very good. Americium. Right. And Europium. And Europium. Yes. Americium was named Americium because the element above it was named for Europe. So they said, that's a real way to decide. Okay. We gave one to Europe. Let's give one to the Americas. Nicely done.

Only four elements are named for countries in which they were discovered or their discoverer's homeland. Can you name them? Well, by homeland, do you mean like Californium? No, I'm talking about countries. Yeah. But good knowing for Californium. Yeah. Okay. Okay. Francium. Right. For France, which was, it was isolated there. Is there a Polonium? There is a Polonium for Marie Curie's birthplace. Very good. Is there a Britannium?

Not Britannium, no. That's a good one. Stay in Europe, though. Okay. Germanium. Yes, Germanium. Yes, very good. So you've got Francium, Polonium, Germanium. And there's one other element, but it was also named for one of the countries we've already named. Oh. Frankium or? Think Latin.

Oh. Gallium. Gallium, yes, very good. Two elements named for France, nice. Tricky. Only three elements were named for extraterrestrial planets. Mercury doesn't count. That was named for the Greek messenger god. What are the others? Extraterrestrial planets. Wow. Plutonium. Plutonium, yes, which is now a dwarf planet. Rest in peace, Pluto, yes. That's one.

Uranium. Uranium is the second, yes. Only got one left. Is there a Neptunium? There is a Neptunium, yes. Nicely done, yes. Lots of elements were named for mythological characters, but really only one is named for a mythological god who is also actually an Avenger. Which one is it? Thorium. Thorium.

Thorium is correct. Yes, it's a god. It's an Avenger. It's an element. It's Thor for thorium. Yes, way to go. You guys did pretty well on that word elements quiz. Thanks, John. We'll talk to you next week. Give our best to the family. You too. Bye-bye. This show is about words and language and fun stuff like books and poetry, grammar and slang. Give us a call, 877-929-9673. Email words at waywardradio.org or try us on Twitter at W-A-Y-W-O-R-D. Hello.

Hello, you have a way with words. Hi, this is Jenny Rome calling from Portland, Oregon. Hey, Jenny, how you doing? I'm good. How are you guys? Fantastic. Welcome to the show. Well, I'm calling today because my daughter is a licensed falconer. And when she was going through the process of becoming, going through her apprenticeship, a lot of falconers talk about words and phrases that are really falconry terms that are used in everyday English.

And so there's a whole bunch of them. But one of the fun ones is waiting with bated breath. So I wanted to ask, I'm pretty sure this comes from falconry. I wanted to know kind of like when it came into the language and how

So, Jenny, you're talking about the word baited as in to wait for something with baited breath. You're full of anticipation and you're so excited about this that you're literally holding your breath and waiting for this thing to happen. And that bait is spelled B-A-T-E or B-A-T-E-D, baited breath.

And it means to stop completely. But then there's a different bait that actually comes from the same root. And that's the one that you're talking about in falconry, right, Jenny? That's the one if baiting in falconry means to beat the wings impatiently and then flutter away from the perch, right?

And this kind of bait goes back to that same Latin root, but it means something different. What's really cool is that this falconry term, bait, meaning to beat the wings impatiently, gives us another English phrase. Any idea what that might be? I have no idea. I don't.

I only learned this a couple of years ago, but it's related to bat as in bat one's eyes. Bat is a variant of that bait. And so if you're batting your eyes, you're fluttering your eyelids kind of like a hawk fluttering its wings. Yeah. So there are two different baits in English. They both go back to this ancient Latin root, but one is in falconry and then one is in words like a bait meaning to bat.

stop something or to bait your breath, which you only hear in the term baited breath. So waiting with baited breath is not from falconry, but is related to the falconry bait where a bird is waiting

trying to fly away from the perch or the falconer's fist. Well, they're very, very distant relatives. Very distant. We're talking many centuries, right? Yeah, yeah. Their children, their grandchildren, great-grandchildren are the same parents. There you go. That's a good way to put it.

Yeah. In the nautical world, Jenny, they have an acronym CANOO. It means conspiracy to attribute nautical etymologies to everything. So I've made up one for the falconry world. It's COFFEE. Conspiracy to originate fishy falconry etymologies to everything. I love that. But the reason the nautical world and the falconry world both have this long history of

words that actually do come from their fields and exist in the standard languages because they're so entrenched with the cultures that speak English. You know, it's centuries, a millennia. What is it, 5,000 years of falconry or more? It's a long time. It's definitely left its imprint on the language, but not necessarily in the ways that people might tell you. Interesting. Yeah. That is very cool. Thank you so much.

I love listening to your show. You guys keep me company all the time. Do it. Hey, Jenny, we know that Falconry is rich with lots of terms and language. You are welcome to call us some more later. Great. Thank you. Bye-bye. Thanks, Jenny. Take care. If you're passionate about something, you have a hobby, and there's language connected with it, we'd love to hear about it. Call us, 877-929-9673, or tell us about it in email. The address is words at waywardradio.org.

We heard from Tim Moyer, who lives in Ingram in Central Texas, and he says it's an area with a lot of feral cats. And he and his wife, Allison, try to treat them responsibly, you know, catching and neutering and making sure that they're healthy there.

And he says most of these cats we eventually name, Calico Kitty and White-Faced Kitty, become CK and WFK. And we refer to these as acronyms. But he's wondering if there really is a word acronym or did they just make that up?

And as far as I know, Grant, there's no term acronym, but I like it. We have a dog who was originally Little Dog, and now she's LD. And it turns out that we have friends who have a dog who's also LD, but she's Lucky Dog. Acronym, though, is so close to acronym, and nim, of course, means name, right? Right, right. So it's very close to the word itself. I don't know.

I like it. I mean, I guess it's an initialism, but I do like acronym. And it makes me think about how we've talked on the show before about how funny it is that pets seem to acquire not just one, but several names as time goes on. Yes, we've developed a whole new slew of names for our cats, even since we last spoke about this. Bianca is now sometimes called Bonkers. Oh!

Why is that, Grant? Just because it's a funny name. She's actually very sweet and gentle. It's the other cat who's the wild one. Bonkers. Bonkers.

877-929-9673. Hello, you have a way with words. Hi, this is Joseph in Richmond, Virginia. Hi, Joseph in Richmond, Virginia. Hey, Joseph. Welcome to the show. Well, the idea of the filibuster is origin, and I did some research, and I got two conflicting things on it. One says it's origin.

originating in French, the other in Dutch, and they're two such disparate languages that I can't imagine how that could be. And also the fact that it's very undemocratic. It was used in the 1870s to help the Dixiecrats who were trying to fight

desegregation tooth and nail. And here we have a minority who can rule the Senate with one person. I've had my senators on the line. I've talked to them directly. Joseph, Joseph. Yes. Away with politics is a different show. We can't help you with that part.

Well, well, anyway, I made sure they knew my point of view. And it is a very, very tenuous. That's why we have the blockage in the Senate we have, because one person can block everything. Now, what is the origin? Have you all found the origin of that word? Well, you talked about hijacking legislation, basically. And if you've looked into the history of this word, then you know that it has to do with piracy, right?

It kind of lent itself to me, yes. The earliest history of this word is kind of murky, but we do know that ultimately it goes back to the Dutch word vrijbouter, which means pirate. The word in Dutch, vrijbouter, it comes from the same root that gives us the English words free and booty, as in a pirate's plunder. I did not come across that. Yeah.

Yeah. In fact, early on in English, we had the word freebooter, which meant a pirate or a privateer. Later on, Dutch colonists in the 16th century used the word fribouter to denote pirates that they ran into in the West Indies.

And this was picked up in Spanish as filibustero and in French as filibustier in the late 1700s. If you know your history, then you know that in the 1850s and 1860s, there were some rough characters, a lot of them frivolous.

from the United States who were heading south on expeditions to meddle in Central American affairs. And we're talking about mercenaries and people leading these private armies on these illegal expeditions going into Central America and the Spanish West Indies to overthrow Spanish colonial rule and sort of take over these territories themselves. And as you might suspect, these meddlers, these soldiers of fortune, were called filibusteros.

Eventually, U.S. newspapers picked up this term and anglicized it, anglicized filibuster as filibuster. And in 1853, the House was debating about whether to annex Cuba, and one of the representatives denounced that idea as piracy or a filibuster. And...

As you noted, over time, filibusters have been used to do things like block civil rights legislation, including anti-lynching bills, things like that. It sounds like piracy. I mean, you could also argue that it's protecting the rights of the minority group in Congress. So it's controversial that way. But filibuster has its origins in the idea of piracy.

Okay, that explains a lot. Yeah, it's very picturesque, wouldn't you say? Yes. Well, I thank you. You all have done a lot more digging than I did, but that's your forte, so I'm so happy to have heard that. That's what we do. It is indeed our métier.

Thank you, Joseph. We appreciate it. Take care now. Thank you all for taking my call. I appreciate it. Sure. Bye-bye. Bye-bye. 877-929-9673. Hello. You have a way with words. Hello. Oh, hi. This is Maggie. I am calling from Spring Valley, New York. Welcome, Maggie. What can we do for you?

I recently heard your program. I was delighted. And I'm a first-time listener, really. Awesome.

As soon as I heard your program, I thought of my father, who always had these terrific expressions, but one in particular that I never understood what it meant. And he was very fond of visiting people, just popping in and visiting and not staying too long. He didn't wear out his welcome or anything, but...

he would always stop on his way and, you know, buy something, cake, cookies, or whatever, and we'd say, Dad, what are you doing? And he'd say, ah, come on, Meg, you can't show up with one arm longer than the other. And he always said that. And I never really heard the history of where that came from, but...

I did ask him when I became an adult once, and he told me, well, that's a guy who's got one arm longer than the other because all he does in life is reach and take with that one arm. But I don't know if that's so, so I thought you would be the expert. That's so interesting. I haven't heard that before.

particular version or explanation before. Maggie, we've got a lot to tell you about this. I'll try to keep it briefer, but your dad's version is kind of rare and special to you and your family because usually it's said a little differently. It's said as, don't go visiting with one arm as long as the other. So basically don't go visiting with both arms the same length.

Or sometimes, rarely, one hand as long as the other. Because the idea was that when you go visiting, always bring something. So your dad was still obeying the rule about always bring something to someone else's house, a food, a gift, or something like that. But the expression wasn't quite the same. And this expression goes back forever.

Oh, I don't even, to the 1850s at least. And it comes from the Irish who are particularly known for it. You can find all of the early uses that I've ever found in print were from Irish folks and Irish newspapers. Yeah.

We had an email message a while back from Bernadette Kenny in New Hampshire about this expression, and I think it explains it pretty well. She wrote to us and said, I first heard this expression many years ago from my Irish mother-in-law. She would also say that a guest showed up, quote, with one arm as long as the other, unquote, to emphasize just how empty-handed they were if they didn't ring with their elbow. We've talked about ring with their elbow on the show before, Martha, haven't we? Yeah, ring the door with your elbow. Don't come empty-handed.

Right. So one arm as long as the other means empty-handed, and one arm longer than the other means you have something in your hand that's stretching out your arm. Well, I could see my father having his own version. He was quite a character, and we also are very Irish.

But it was definitely don't show up with one arm longer than the other. Keep that and save that. It's just fine with us. You have your version, and it makes perfect sense in the way that he explained it, I think. Because he was still talking about generosity and sharing and not being a reacher, right?

Right. Not being a grabby person. Yeah. I think that's just fine. Thank you for sharing that memory with us and giving us a chance to talk about this expression. Great. Thank you. And keep it up. It's a great program. Bye. Take care. Bye-bye. Be well. Bye. Bye.

Well, share your linguistic heirlooms with us, 877-929-9673, or send it to us in email. That address is words at waywardradio.org. And if you just can't wait, you can find us on Twitter at Wayward. Here's another entry from our Facebook discussion about things you might plant punningly in a garden. You know what twins would plant?

Pears. Yes. That's a twin myself. That came right to my mind. Very good. What about a mime? What would a mime plant? Exactly. Mums. Mums.

Excellent. There's a lot of answers for those if we sit down and think about it. There probably are. Yeah. Share your contributions with us. What would so-and-so plant in their garden? We'll share them on the air, 877-929-9673 or email words at waywardradio.org. Eczema isn't always obvious, but it's real. And so is the relief from Ebbglis.

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Prescription medicine used to treat adults and children 12 years of age and older who weigh at least 88 pounds or 40 kilograms with moderate to severe eczema. Also called atopic dermatitis that is not well controlled with prescription therapies used on the skin or topicals or who cannot use topical therapies. Ebglus can be used with or without topical corticosteroids. Don't use if you're allergic to Ebglus. Allergic reactions can occur that can be severe. Eye problems can occur. Tell your doctor if you have new or worsening eye problems.

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And I'm Martha Barnett. You know, Grant, I suppose we all have words that we have to look up again and again because we just can't remember how they're pronounced. Do you have any of those? How they're pronounced. Oh, that's a good one. I tell you, I have one. It's spelled B-R-O-O-C-H. How do you say that word? B-R-O-O-C-H. I just say brooch. You say brooch. But it's brooch.

But there's broach the subject, but that's OA, right? Broach that you put on, it's like a pin that maybe holds a scarf to a blouse, right? Yeah, and you've said it both ways now, broach and brooch. Yeah. You can't think about these things. You just have to say them spontaneously. You do. Because once you're conscious of it, then you ruin it. This is terrible. I know. You ruin that word for me. Yeah.

Yeah, I think somebody ruined it for me because I think growing up I said brooch and then somebody said, no, no, no, it's brooch, it's brooch. And so, you know, duly chastised, I started saying brooch. But then the other day I was reading a story in The New York Times called The Brooch Is Back, Baby.

And it's about how these things, these pins that you put on your lapel or to pin a scarf, how they're becoming much more fashionable again. And in fact, it's men who are making them cool again, according to this article. But anyway, I was reading it and I was thinking, wait a minute, how do you pronounce B-R-O-O-C-H? Now I'm completely confused.

It turns out that most dictionaries will tell you it's pronounced brooch, although some do countenance the pronunciation brooch. But I had this moment where, of course, I went to the etymology and had some fun with that because the word brooch comes from a Latin root that means long needle. And via Old French, we got the word brooch.

B-R-O-O-C-H. And it means something that has a long needle. But also you mentioned brooch, like brooch the subject. And that again has to do with piercing. It's the same idea of a long needle. Right. That makes perfect sense. I think the word that I would say that I need to look up, and I think you've even corrected me on this, maybe even on the show, is A-S-K-A-N-C-E. For some reason, somewhere along the

the way I got the impression that it was a sconce. But it's a scance, right? Or is it askance? Now that you say that, I'm not sure. Honestly, now that you say that, I'm not sure. Here we are spoiling the language right and left. If only I had bookshelf after bookshelf filled with dictionaries and pronunciation guides to look this stuff up in.

All right. Hold on a second. Give us a call, 877-929-9673, and I'll go look this up. What are the words that you always have a problem saying, even though you've looked it up, even though somebody helped you, even though you've heard it said by people who know how to say it? 877-929-9673.

Hello, you have a way with words. Hello, this is Laura Davison. I am calling from San Jose, California. Hi, Laura. Welcome to the show. Thank you. It's great to talk to you guys. So I'm calling today to talk with you about the language used in guided meditation. I started meditating a little bit over a year ago, and one of the things that I noticed using the app that I have, there are a lot of teachers on the app who use a certain way of speaking.

in the guided meditations. And to me, it was a little bit distracting at first because I had never heard anything like that. Instead of giving instructions by saying something like sit comfortably or take a deep breath, they would say things like sitting comfortably or breathing deeply.

Mostly, I'm just wondering about what is this way of speaking? What is the style of voice that they use? And is this more about sharing the experience rather than dictating or describing it? Because I was in a virtual seminar a few weeks ago where the instructor essentially led us through a guided meditation and then asked us to share about it afterwards. And he kept stopping people that were trying to share and saying, you're telling a story or you're...

You're not really putting us in the experience. So my question is, is that the goal of those guided meditations? Like, is it to help people be more present in the experience? And what is this tile of speaking called? Oh, what an interesting question. I've noticed that as well, both in the meditation apps and in live in a group full of people in a room with doing meditation. I've absolutely noticed that there is a, there's even a tone to the voice, not just the verb choices and the way they conjugate, but just a feeling,

the feeling to the, to the way that they're talking and they don't talk like that outside of the class. Right. Right. And, and I'm already eager to hear from other people who do this kind of thing. Um,

But, I mean, grammatically what you're talking about is the use of the present participle, right? Sitting on the floor, breathing this way. And, I mean, even as I'm talking about this, I find myself talking in a different way. And I think you're onto something there. I think it's a way of suggesting something that's very continuous. Yes. There's a name for it.

It's called the politeness progressive. Oh, the politeness progressive. Okay. Yeah. So it is the progressive form of the verb. It's an ongoing action. Progressive. Oh. And so, and the politeness part is it lets the speaker distance themselves from a request or a command. Because they are giving you a command. Oh, sure. Yeah, yeah, right. Because if they said, take a posture.

or take a seat or move over there. That's too abrupt. That's too forceful in this kind of gentle, caring, subtle environment, right? Yeah, I mean, there's a reason that they call this a guided meditation instead of a to-do list or operating instructions or something. I think it's a matter of inviting you to an experience and leaving room for your own interpretation because as I gather, right?

in yoga, they're trying to let you find the pose and position that works for you with your body because people have different, different abilities. And, and isn't there a lot of talk in meditation about spaciousness, you know, that space between you and your thoughts or between you and the words you're taking in or between you and your body. And, and they're actually, I think, creating that kind of spaciousness with their choice of words. I'm also thinking of, um,

You know, hypnotist, the old image of a hypnotist is somebody saying you are feeling sleepy. But I think more and more people who practice hypnosis are using phrases like, and perhaps as you sit there listening to the sound of my voice, you might begin to notice a pleasant sensation of drowsiness. That's the lilt. That's the way they do it. That's funny. Not that I've ever done hypnosis of that kind, but I've seen the YouTube videos.

They definitely use that in meditation as well, for sure. Yeah. So when you're on these apps, do they take it too far, Laura? Do you have to switch to a different meditation leader sometimes because you just can't take it anymore? How does that work for you?

Most of them, they don't talk a lot during the meditations. So it's not so distracting that I feel the need to switch to a different meditation. And it's not all of them that do it. And I was actually kind of trying to look back through some of them to see if I could find one as an example, and I couldn't. So it must only be few and far between where they actually use them. But it definitely just struck me, and it took me almost a year to try to really

really figure out like, what are they trying to do? Like, why are they speaking like this? Thinking about it in a sense of, yes, they're getting you in the moment and

in the experience rather than thinking about it. You're actually in it. It makes a little bit more sense, but I had no idea what it was called. So that's really cool. If you want more on this, if you want to get really super languagey and nerdy, Google politeness discourse, linguistics, those three words, and you'll come up with a ton of stuff that talks about all these subtle ways that we allow people to understand that we are being polite in our language. We give them out

We indicate that we're not being forceful. We indicate that we're hedging a little bit, but politeness matters.

Politeness, discourse, linguistics. Those three words together should get you a ton of stuff. Okay, great. I definitely will. Thank you. Laura, thank you so much for calling. I'm sure everybody's going to be paying more attention the next time they're meditating or taking a yoga class. And good luck with your practice, all right? Yes, thank you. And thank you for taking my call. It's a pleasure to speak with you guys. Great speaking with you too. Be well. Bye-bye. You too. Bye-bye.

Let us create a language monster for you, customized and perfect just for your life. 877-929-9673 or email the details of your language monster to words at waywardradio.org. Hey Grant, what would a clockmaker plant in the garden? I don't know, but you've got to watch out for ticks.

Oh, Grant, you and your smart talk. A clockmaker would plant time, of course. Of course. If you could plant time, imagine. 877-929-9673. Hello, you have a way with words. Hello, this is Erin.

And I'm in Austin. And well, I want to ask about the word loggerheads. My boss asked a couple of us at work who are either from the North or word nerds if we knew where it originated. I mean, I know the word, but I don't know anything about it. How would you use it in a sentence? I've always heard it as at loggerheads, like at an impasse, like

There's no way forward. You're asking about at loggerheads, and you're like, oh, this is a weird English word. Yes. When I talked with my mom, she's like, I think it comes from the turtles. And I was like, that seems reasonable, I suppose. Oh, yeah, the loggerhead turtles. Do you have those in Texas? Yeah. Okay. Are they kind of snapping turtle? I think so. I didn't go look them up, but she seemed to know what loggerhead turtles were.

And she's from the north. So I don't know if that's why or she just knows that some random trivia. Well, loggerheads, to be at loggerheads, we'll talk about the turtles in a minute, to be at loggerheads...

It goes back about 400 years or so, and it relates to behaving like a blockhead, basically. Because one meaning of loggerhead is to have a log-like head, L-O-G, like a part of a tree. Log. You're a log. You're thick. You're dense. You're a blockhead. So if two people are at loggerheads, they're both logheads.

Yeah, they're both kind of thick-headed, and neither one will budge for the other. They're stubborn. There was a word that appeared centuries later that suggests there might have been a loggerhead device that was a block of wood used to keep animals like horses in check.

But the evidence for that is pretty scant. There is another meaning of loghead, which is a little newer. It's about 350 years old instead of 400 years old, which is a kind of metal poker used to heat drinks.

It's a long rod, about the size of a fireplace poker. And on the end is this metal bulb. Sometimes they're ornate, kind of fancy. You put it in the fire until it's very hot, maybe even red hot. And then you thrust it into the drink to make the drink steam and bubble. This is how you mull, M-U-L-L, how you mull wine.

And that is also a loggerhead. So you can imagine that two people fighting with these loggerheads could be said to be at loggerheads. It might even involve drunken fighting because they're in a place that serves mulled wine. So...

So we don't know which of these is the first one. We're pretty sure that they both contributed to the idiom, however. Often you'll find that in language where there's kind of a cross-pollination, where two terms from slightly different origins kind of work together to provide an idiom. It's oomph, it's kind of semantic force. And I think that's what's happening here. But without a time machine, you can say for certain.

Right. Well, thanks for joining our nerd club on the air. We appreciate it, Erin. Thank you. This was fun. All right. Thanks, Erin. Bye-bye. Bye-bye. 877-929-9673. Email words at waywardradio.org.

Or hit us up on Twitter at W-A-Y-W-O-R-D. Hi there. You have a way with words. Hi there. This is Jace from Austin, Texas. How are y'all? Well, Jace, welcome to the show. What can we do for you? So there's this word, hickey, right? And this word normally refers to a little...

love bite or, you know, a little mark that one might get on one's neck after an amorous affair. And I've heard this word actually used in another way by people

someone at church, she would always say when she couldn't think of the name for something, she would call it a doohickey. And that always made me laugh because I thought of, you know, the other meaning of the word. And I was like, okay, what's going on here? And there's a third part to this puzzle, though. The other day, I heard someone on the radio talk about a hickey

the power grid in Texas. Recently, Texas had a snowstorm that knocked out our whole power grid. And they, it was almost like they were referring to a hit in the plan or a hit in the power grid, but they use this funny word hickey. And so I,

I don't know. I'm like, what is going on with this word, y'all? Y'all got to help me out here. Of course we can. Absolutely. Do you remember the name of the show that you were listening to where you heard hickey in relation to Power Grid? Yes, it was the Texas Tribune, which is an NPR program that airs every day that talks about science.

stuff going on in Texas. So I'm sure it was somebody from Texas that was using that word. I don't recall who it was. I bet it was Ross Ramsey of the Texas Tribune. Oh, well, there you go. Oh my gosh. Wow. And here's why. He has a penchant for using the word hickey to mean kind of like a dark mark that requires some explaining. I like that definition. Yeah.

Just go to the Texas Tribune website and look for Ross Ramsey and the word hickey, and you'll find a few articles where he's used the word hickey in that way several times. Things like an economic hickey on the state or so-and-so apparently doesn't think it's worth the hickey or they have a hickey now that they have to explain. And he just means it as a spot that requires explanation. Oh, my gosh. Like a mark against it. That is so funny.

Well, you know, listen, I have an Austin Public Library membership, and fortunately that allows me access to the Oxford English Dictionary. So I did a little research, and I saw that doohickey was a combination of the word doodad and hickey. And I was like, oh my gosh, that's funny too, I thought. Yeah, because hickey didn't always just mean...

a love bite or a love mark, it also meant a whatchamacallit or a thingamie, just like doodad did. And so there's kind of a crossover there. But hickey also doesn't only mean the thing you get when you're sucking face. It also could mean any kind of mark on the skin, like a bruise or a pimple or a boil or just anything.

just any bump that's not supposed to be there. And in the printing business, there's a couple different kind of hickeys. It could be little defects or bits of irregular ink on the printing job that are visible but not

Not bad enough that it'll spoil the whole print run. And then a hickey can also be a dingbat or an ornament that you might include in a corner to end a paragraph or end a column. Oh my gosh, that's too funny. I have some friends that are printmakers. I'll have to ask them if they use that word. Oh yeah, dude. They call it a ton of great language for you. Printmakers have, since it's a 500-year-old profession, they have tons of deeply steep lingo. Oh my gosh, and I'm a total...

nerd for that well listen that is so funny i'm so happy that y'all tracked down that texas thing and i didn't even think to look there even though i knew exactly what show it was so thank y'all so much i really do appreciate it sure it was a pleasure to talk to you jace jace thanks for calling bye-bye absolutely bye-bye y'all bye jace well we'd love to hear your stories about a word that

Really surprised you in a new context where you thought it meant one thing, but now it seems to mean another. 877-929-9673 or email words at waywardradio.org.

Thanks to senior producer Stephanie Levine, editor Tim Felton, and production assistant Rachel Elizabeth Weisler. You can send us messages, subscribe to the podcast and newsletter, and catch up on hundreds of past episodes at waywardradio.org. Our toll-free line is always open in the U.S. and Canada, 877-929-9673, or email us words at

waywardradio.org. A Way With Words is an independent production of Wayward, Inc., a nonprofit supported by listeners and organizations who are changing the way the world talks about language. Many thanks to Wayward board member and our friend Bruce Rogo for his help and expertise. Thanks for listening. I'm Grant Barrett. And I'm Martha Barnett. Until next time, goodbye. Bye-bye. Bye-bye.